In Japan
by Swa-Sa Masou
Summary: Re-write of the ending of both engagements just because I wasn't happy with how that went on the show. It is still very much Steve/DJ, despite the beginning of the first chapter.
1. Matt and DJ

DJ took in the view of the bustling Japanese city from the rooftop. It was breathtaking and she was up here with a man who, while she wasn't sure he was her soul-mate, she did love him. It was a great scene and her heart felt full. She felt Matt's arm wrap around her to pull her close and she sighed as she leaned back into him.

She felt slight pressure at his hand on her hip and turned to face him. That was when she noticed that he was sweating. She tried to calm him, wait, is Matt afraid of heights? "it's so beautiful up here!"

Matt quipped out a compliment about her beauty only increasing the beauty of the scene and her heart-rate picked up. This man really knew how to make her blush. Suddenly, Matt was on one knee and reaching forward with a small box.

And a diamond.

A small box, which had an even smaller cushion, with a diamond resting in it.

Oh no. No. no. no. no. no. This can't be happening.

Matt seemed to be laying it on a little thick in the romance department as DJ internally freaked out. "Will you make me the happiest man in Japan and be my wife?" Matt looked so happy. DJ groped her mind for any possibility of what to say.

She had been having doubts about Matt since things got real with CJ and Steve. Really, since that day at the dress shop. Matt was an amazing guy, but he wasn't Steve. She had been about to pick Steve at the end of the summer when they both showed up with other girls. Now things had been so great with Matt, but her heart sank every time she had to help Steve with something for his upcoming wedding to someone else.

Still looking for how she could say anything close to her heart without ruining what she and Matt had, she choked out, "This is totally unexpected!"

This seemed to please Matt rather than to derail his thoughts. "that's what I was going for! I love you and you love me! Will you marry me?" He was so optimistic. Through all of this awkwardness of everything with the two of them, her history with Steve, and how often the four of them still saw each other, Matt had never questioned DJ's devotion to him. Here he knelt, waiting for her answer. DJ found that she didn't really want to say no, but she couldn't bring herself to say yes either.

Reaching down to gently place a hand on Matt's cheek, she saw the fear form in his eyes. "Oh, Matt." Tears began forming in her own as she felt that she could see his heart crash through his chest and land at her feet. She grasped his hand that held the ring box and pulled him up. "Matt, I'm not saying no. I'm not."

Her voice caught.

Matt stood and turned away from her. She could hear the emotion rising in his voice as he tried to compose himself. "but you're not saying yes, either."

"Matt." DJ was crying now and Matt turned to her, and with a sigh, opened his arms. DJ collapsed against him, sobbing. When she had calmed down and pulled back a little, she swiped at the tears and make up running down her face.

"Matt, I'm not saying yes, but you need to know why." She sniffled and squared her shoulders. So many thoughts hit her as to why she wasn't saying yes. Most of them had nothing to do with her feelings for Steve, although that was there.

"When we started dating, I had just decided that I was ready to open my heart again after losing my husband. It had only been a few weeks before that I had removed my wedding ring to put on a chain instead of on my finger. Then all of the stuff that happened, happened. When we finally just got together, the two of us without the drama, it had only been two and a half years without Tommy, and now, we just passed the anniversary of losing him. You helped me through that. You gave me space on that day." She placed a hand on his chest and smiled up at him. "I can't thank you enough for understanding that I needed that time alone that day. But I can't say yes to you yet."

She turned away from him and wiped her hands against her dress. She was nervous and she knew that he was. With a deep, steadying breath, she turned back around, "I love you, Matt, I do. You're right. And I love that you have so much confidence in us that you're willing to ask me this, but we haven't even been together for a year."

DJ was nervously gesturing as she tried to explain this, not sure if she was making any sense. Matt placed his hands on her shoulders. "Deej, we're here for a wedding of a couple who has only known each other for just over a year. Time doesn't matter, not when you feel like we do!"

She shifted from foot to foot, trying to keep herself under control. "Matt, my final answer, while we're here, is not right now. So much is going on. We're here celebrating a wedding of a guy I used to be in love with, to a woman who I'm not always sure is right for him, but who, really, I barely know. I have to be this woman's maid of honor because she has no one else to do so here, so I have all of that stress that just was put on me. You know me, I like to be in control. We're in a brand-new place, with a wedding to help put on, and we're jetlagged, and, and…" DJ trailed off. She had been about to say "I'm still in love with Steve." That wasn't a comment that would be helpful to this situation.

Matt, however, seemed to know where her train of thought was headed. "We're here for Steve's wedding. I get that this is tough for you. I wish it wasn't. I don't want to be, but in this case, I'm kind of selfish. I want you to only love me, but I know that you don't." He closed the space between them and laced their fingers together. "You're with me. You've committed to me, and that's good enough for now. I'm willing to grow with you for the rest of our lives. By this time tomorrow, Steve will be married and we can put all of that in the past."

DJ's eyes shone. She marveled at the man in front of her. "How is it possible that you're so understanding of everything? You say you're selfish, but, Matt, I have never met anyone less so than you." The two tilted their heads and met in a slow, soft kiss. DJ was the one to pull away first. She loved Matt. True, she also loved Steve, but he was getting married tomorrow. And, as Stephanie and Kimmy had told her, he heard her say that he might be her soulmate and he hadn't talked to her about it. It was high time that they both, finally, moved on. "I do love you. I do want you to ask me again, when we're home and settled."

Matt rubbed his thumb across the back of her left hand and then brought it up to his lips and lightly placed a kiss right where a ring would go. "I plan to hold you to that. Come on, let's get back down to the rehearsal dinner." His smile was infectious and DJ was soon matching his as he led her back down the stairs.

As they passed by a small patch of trees, DJ felt someone pull at her hand.


	2. Steve

"Oh!" DJ exclaimed in surprise. She glanced around and saw Steve hiding behind a bush with a finger put to his lips.

Matt stopped when DJ spoke and was looking around trying to find the source of his girlfriend's outburst. "What? What is it?"

Thinking quickly, DJ reached to her ear and pulled out the earring and then turned to show Matt the naked lobe. "I seem to have lost my earring. I'm going to go back up and see if it's up there on the balcony." Hoping Matt wouldn't notice the piece of jewelry clutched in her hand or Steve crouched in the bushes and would just swallow her story, DJ smiled innocently.

Matt seemed to believe her and turned back to the small set of steps. "Here, I'll help you."

DJ groaned internally, of course he wanted to help her. "No, no, you head on down. You're the Best Man after all. You should be downstairs. I'll go look for it and be right down."

Matt smiled, "Okay, I'll see you down there." With that he gave her a quick peck on the cheek and bounded down the long stairway.

Seeing his back turn the corner, DJ turned sharply back toward the bush to see Steve standing fully upright and gazing at her.

"Hey Deej." He smiled slightly and reached out his hand to help her up to the small seating area he was standing in, cordoned off by the bushes from the rest of the roof. DJ took the proffered hand and lightly stepped up.

"Why the secrecy? Why are you up here?" When Steve didn't respond right away, it hit her that he was likely hiding because he had been up here a while. "Did you just see Matt propose?" Her heart sank. She knew that Steve still had feelings for her and helping him propose to CJ had been extremely difficult. If Matt hadn't returned that night, she probably would have gone to bed crying. She didn't want Steve to feel the same, the night before his wedding of all nights, from seeing Matt propose to her.

Steve put his hands in his pockets. "I did. And I saw you turn him down. I want to know why you did that DJ. If the only reasons are what you told him, then we can both go back downstairs and sit down, you next to Matt and me next to CJ and we'll continue with our lives." He took two steps toward her, putting himself within inches of her. "But, if any of that reason for you turning him down was because of your feelings for me, then we need to talk. Here. Now. Before either of us makes any more life changing decisions."

Steve took a deep breath and reached for DJ's hand. "I was sitting next to you on the plane when you had your blindfold on." Of course, DJ already knew this, but she was willing to let him confess. "I heard you say that you love me and that you think I might be your soulmate. I need to know what that was. If it was pre-wedding jitters, flying on such a long flight nerves, altitude sickness- I don't know! If it was anything other than the absolute truth, I need you to tell me now."

DJ looked up into his eyes and put her hands on his shoulders. "Steve, of course it was the truth. I do think you might be my soulmate. But you're getting married. You've planned a wedding, to a wonderful girl, and I can't let you throw that away for me."

Steve got one of the fiercest looks in his eyes that DJ had ever seen him have. He turned his back to her and ran his hand through his short hair before turning again to lock his eyes on hers. "DJ, that's not your choice. If you love me, if you want to be with me, then you need to tell me. Forget everything else going on in my life or in your life. This. Us. It's too important and it's been put on hold too many times for you to keep this from me. We were great in high school. We were even great for a little while after high school. We had the chance to be after both of our marriages ended, albeit for different reasons, but I chose CJ because I thought that I needed to get over you one last time. And it is the last time. If we walk away from each other again tonight, there won't be a next time for us. I need your answer." He took a deep breath and all of his strength seemed to leave him. He collapsed into a chair.

Gathering her mental power, DJ walked to the adjacent chair and sat across from him. "Steve, we both have someone downstairs who loves us. They are great people. They both want to spend their lives with us. If we don't, it's not fair to them. But we need to be sure, before four of us end up with broken hearts on this trip."

Steve looked up and took DJ's hands in his. "I'm so sure about you, Deej. If we have a chance here, we have to take it."

Feeling the tears welling up in her eyes at having another conversation with Matt, and at the thought of what Steve was going to have to do with CJ, DJ locked eyes with the man she knew she truly loved, "Okay. Let's take it."


	3. CJ

_**A/N:Sorry, the first two chapters were much longer as DJ and Steve thought through their internal conflict about being with other people.**_

Steve led the two of them down the stairs and paused just before they would become visible to the rest of the room. He turned, a terrified look on his face. "Okay, Deej, this is huge. This is your last chance to back out. If we're doing this, we're doing this."

DJ gave his hand a quick squeeze and smiled at him, "there's no backing out. I'm choosing you. But this will be hard. Really hard."

The two paused to collect their thoughts and then met the gaze of the other. After another moment of silence, drawing strength from each other, they both said, "good luck" at the same time. The two shared a brief smile, if it hadn't been such a serious situation, they probably both would have burst into laughter.

DJ spotted Matt at the bar and went to him. Steve saw CJ sitting at the table, finishing a bite of dessert with her daughter. It was a sweet sight, but he took a deep breath and went to go talk to his soon-to-be-ex-fiancée

Steve knelt down beside Rose and asked, "Hey, sweetie, can I borrow your mom for a minute?" Rose smiled up at him, "You can borrow her whenever you want, she's going to be your wife soon!"

CJ laughed and stood up. Steve led her over a few steps away from the main table, and away from her menacing step-father. "CJ," he took her hands in his and took another deep, steadying breath. "You're so amazing, CJ. It's been so wonderful being with you."

The face he was looking at had morphed from utter happiness to confusion and now to anger bordering on completely collapsing in anguish. "Steve, we're less than 24 hours from our wedding, why are you talking like this? You're scaring me."

His stomach felt like a rock. Seeing her holding back tears felt like a white-hot poker was being pushed into his throat. "I'm so sorry, CJ. It's not fair to you if I'm not 100% sure, and I'm not." His voice caught, "I'm sorry." She tore her hands from her grasp.

The voice that rose and crashed into Steve seemed to him to bear little resemblance to CJ's normal voice. "You waited until now, when we're already in a different country, after we've both spent all of this money to come here and prepare for this wedding, after we've already told everyone I care about that this is happening, to tell me that you're not sure enough?" Tears shining in her eyes, but the entire room had turned to look at them and she seemed to be refusing to let the tears fall in front of her daughter.

CJ turned to look at Rose and wiped at her lower eyes, "Rose, honey, cover your eyes." The younger girl seemed confused, but did as she was told. However, it didn't do much as the punch CJ landed on Steve's gut made a resounding oomf and the air leaving his lungs as he doubled over made the previous action unmistakable, even through sound only.

Steve's voice, more strained than usual, squeaked out, "I probably deserved that." Standing back up straight, he continued, "All I can say is I'm sorry."

Although she could tell by his face that he was, he had asked her marry him, in a manner that truly baffled her, had brought her all the way here, and then embarrassed her in front of her family in addition to breaking her heart, so CJ's final words were meant to hurt, as much as she wanted to be a bigger person, "I really hope DJ comes back to you because anyone else who tries to love you is going to have one hell of a ghost to compete with." Straightening her skirt and smoothing her hair, she reached for Rose's hand, "Come, honey, we'll be going on that honeymoon trip together."

Steve stared at his shoes as they left the room, really wishing that there had been a better way to go about that. When he finally looked up, he saw Matt glaring daggers at him, standing across form a very panicked looking DJ who was fidgeting with her fingers. They clearly weren't done with their conversation, and as they were standing in front of the bar (unfortunately, as Steve could really have used a drink), Steve tried to make himself disappear until DJ was alone again.


	4. Matt and Forever

_**A/N: Last chapter, hope you enjoyed the re-write!**_

"Matt?" He turned around, drink in hand and smiled at DJ. While a shunned proposal hurt, he knew she loved him and he had faith that they could get through this eventually. His smile filled his face as he put an arm around her shoulders to draw her closer to him.

DJ's return smile didn't quite reach her eyes. This was not lost on Matt. "Okay, something's changed from the time that I came down the stairs to when you came down the stairs just now. What is it? What's wrong?"

DJ began fidgeting with her fingers, twisting and pulling at the decorative rings on them. "I just, I think we need to talk more about this engagement thing."

Matt set his drink back down on the bar and held both of his hands up, "Listen, I thought we were in a different place than we are. It's fine. It's totally cool. We don't have to talk about it again until you're ready.

As DJ was opening her mouth to respond, they were both distracted by a screeching voice from across the room:

"You waited until now, when we're already in a different country, after we've both spent all of this money to come here and prepare for this wedding, after we've already told everyone I care about that this is happening, to tell me that you're not sure enough?"

As difficult as it was to pull her eyes from CJ, she had to see how Matt was reacting. DJ saw anger in his features as he looked at the scene unfolding in front of them. They both saw CJ give Steve a solid punch to the gut and then walk out of the room with Rose. Steve looked over at the pair of them and DJ felt panicked.

Matt's furious look turned from Steve to DJ, "and does this conversation you want to have with me have anything to do with the conversation CJ and Steve clearly just had?"

Holding back tears, DJ squeaked out a reply, "Matt." That was all she could summon at first, "Yes, it does. Matt, I'm so sorry. I just"

Matt cut her off, "You were fine with telling me 'not yet' just a few moments ago. But that was when you thought he was getting married tomorrow. I've just been a back-up plan this whole time, haven't I? You've wanted to be with Steve and you were only going to agree to marry me after he was wholly unattainable." Matt put one hand in his pocket and rubbed the other along his face, trying to control his features before looking at the floor, willing himself to be strong, to not show DJ just how much this hurt him.

Reaching for his hand, DJ was surprised that he didn't pull away, "Matt, I love you. You've never been a contingency plan. If I didn't actually love you, I wouldn't have welcomed you into my family, we wouldn't be here together. I love you, it just doesn't feel right. I can't do this if it doesn't feel right."

He had been relishing the feel of her comforting hand grasping his, but at those words he couldn't take it anymore and wrenched his hand away. "doesn't feel right," he echoed her. As he took a step back, she took a step toward him. He held up a hand, "No. Don't follow me." He turned and walked away, presumably up to his hotel room, or to find another bar to drink away the pain of this night.

* * *

Steve had been hiding behind a nearby column. Jeez, he had been doing a lot of hiding and eavesdropping tonight. He wished he could have been hiding and witnessing his own break up with CJ as he was witnessing DJ and Matt's.

When Matt walked away, he came out and gently took DJ's hand, pulling her around toward him.

Falling into his embrace, she let the tears fall. They knew that they had made the right choice, but their hearts would still need time to mend from tonight's tumult.


End file.
